The Iron Dragon of Magnolia
by Morningstar-Girl
Summary: Gajeel was locked away in the bell tower of the famous cathedral in the town of Magnolia. Believing that the world would reject him by the lies of Judge Jose Porla has told him. But, Levy, a gypsy, helps him believe otherwise. With her sister Lucy and captain of the guard, Natsu, will they be able to save the other gyspies from Porla? Third installment of TDFTT


_**The Iron Dragon of Magnolia**_

**Chapter One:**_ The Man and the Monster_

A fair time ago, Magnolia was the centre of gypsy trafficking. Gypsies from all around the world would travel to the great town to have a sanctuary underneath the town buildings. One faithful night, three gypsies were travelling down the canals through the town streets under the cloak of night. Little did they know that the judge Magnolia was watching them within the shadows.

The woman in the boat was holding a small bundle in her arms that was swaddled with blankets. The bundle kept moving around before it started to cry. The woman tried to cue the bundle.

"Hush My Child," she whispered. "We'll be safe soon." But the baby continued to cry.

The other two men started getting nervous. "Hush that baby Grandeeney!"

"I'm sorry."

"Quiet you two!" One of the men looked around. "I don't think anyone's here. We should be able to get off here and head to the hideout before morning."

"Alright Igneel," the other man said. He turned to Grandeeney. "Are you alright?"

The woman held her free hand up to her forehead, her eyes were squinting. She let out a breath and turned to the others. "I'm fine Metalicana. Thank you."

Metalicana nodded. Igneel stopped the boat and got out. Metalicana followed and reached his hand out to help Grandeeney out.

"Alright, we'll be fine as-"

"Going somewhere gypsies?"

"Shit!" Metalicana whispered.

They looked up the steps of the dock. On the bridge were soldiers pointing crossbows or bows at them. On a horse at the top step was a horse with a man in dark purple cloak with a blood red bowtie poking out from his chest. His dark red hair was stringy and reached just under his chin. His dark eyes were hidden in the shadow casted over his face.

"Damn…" Igneel said. "Lord Jose Porla…"

Lord Jose Porla, the judge of Magnolia who _detests_ gypsies and aims to rid them from society, smirked down to the three gypsies standing beneath him. "Arrest them and take them to the Palace of Justice."

The chains were placed on Igneel's hands. Metalicana pushed them away Grandeeney. The soldiers grabbed him and held the man against the ground. He struggled in their grasps.

"RUN GRANDEENEY!"

She shakily nodded before running across the docks and up the stairs, away from Lord Jose Porla. The judge gripped the reigns of his horse before puling them in Grandeeney's direction.

"I'll go after her," he yelled. Green eyes glared down to Metalicana held against the ground. "I'll deal with you later Gypsy Vermin."

Grandeeney ran through the streets of Magnolia, listening to the cries of her child and to the horse's hooves beating against the stone ground closing in on her. She turned and jumped over a railing, rolling onto the muddy grass of a cathedral's cemetery. Her eyes widened as she picked herself up and ran to the doors.

_Sanctuary…We'll be safe there!_ Grandeeney started banging her fist against the wooden door. "SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY! OH GOD! PLEASE GIVE US SANCTUARY!"

Jose's horse jumped over the railing separating the cathedral grounds from the street. Grandeeney's eyes widened before running away from the door. Jose caught up to her and kicked the back of her head with great force, causing the woman to instantly throw her child in the air. Jose caught the baby and the baby continued to wail.

"Not stolen goods? But a baby," Jose said. He looked down to the woman at his horse's hooves. The back of her head had blood streaming into the grass. Jose looked around and a saw a nearby well. He walked his horse's over to the well and held it over the opening.

"Wait Jose," an old man said; his voice ringing amongst the grey columns of the cathedral. Walking down the steps of the stone building was a very short man with white hair and a white moustache. He wore a white cloak with furry ends. His dark eyes were looking to the blood spilling from the woman. "Haven't you stained your hands with enough blood tonight?"

"I don't know what you speak of Makarov," the judge said. "I am simply doing the duty that the gods have bestowed onto me."

"Purging the world from the unwanted, I see," the priest said. He bent down and closed the open eyes of Grandeeney before other priests took her body away into the cathedral. "It's enough that you have killed an innocent on the steps of Kardia, but you wish to add another soul to your list?"

"I am simply doing-"

"_Your duty that has been bestowed to you by the gods_. Yes, yes. I've heard it before. You may keep telling yourself that, but the gods will not be pleased with your actions of killing innocents on the steps of their church."

Jose heaved. He looked to the heavens where the gods resided. He sighed, knowing that the old man was right; the gods wouldn't allow him to enter their heavenly domain while his hands were stained with blood. The judge turned back to the priest.

"What must I do?"

"Raise the child," Makarov said. "It could lead you to become a more righteous man Jose."

"I cannot raise a child Makarov!" Jose yelled.

"Should've thought of that before you killed the child's mother," the priest said, turning to the cathedral. "Goodnight Jose. May the gods find mercy on your soul."

"Wait! When he is able to work, he will stay with you in the bell tower."

Wha?" The old man turned back and looked to Jose with a confused face. "What do you mean Jose?"

"I cannot have a child clinging to me day and night. He will stay in Kardia Cathedral as a bell ringer or something of the sort."

Makarov slowly nodded, turning back to the cathedral. _What do you have planned for this boy, gods of Fiore? More importantly, what do you have planned Jose?_

The man looked down to the baby in his arms. "The gods work in mysterious ways, My Boy. Maybe, just maybe, you will help me purge this city of your kind…Gajeel-kun."

And so, twenty years passed since that faithful night on the steps of Kardia. Gajeel was raised in Jose's home until he turned six, then he was sent to live in the bell towers of Kardia Cathedral. In those twenty years, Gajeel was locked away, never to be let out. Jose taught him a type of Lost Magic that had been kept away from public since its creation, a magic called Iron Dragon Slayer magic. Jose hoped that one day, with Gajeel's magic, he would be able to rid the _world _of gypsies.

But, being isolated from the world for twenty years, Gajeel wished to be freed. Not a servant to the judge, but his own man. Making his own destiny. Soon enough though, people would come into his life and show him that he will be able to become his own man.

_{Line Skip}_

"Is he awake yet?"

"I don't know. Why don't you check?"

"I don't want to. Remember the last time we did?"

"Then who will wake him up before…"

"HAPPY!"

"What is it Carle? Lily?" a third voice asked.

"We need you to wake up Gajeel," the second voice said.

"Why?"

"Happy just do it," the first voice said. "If we don't wake him up before _he _comes, Gajeel will be in deep trouble."

"Anything for you Carle."

"Ugh. Don't make me puke Happy," the second voice said.

"Shut up Lily!" Happy yelled.

"Why don't the three of you shut up?" a man asked.

"Uh-oh."

A man slowly opened his eyes, looking to the wooden rafters of the bell tower. He rubbed his red eyes before sitting on his simple bed. He looked around, his long spiky black hair in a shabby mess. The silver piercings on his arms and face were slightly gleaming in the sunlight that had leaked from outside. His pointy eyes glared to three small cats at the foot of his bed. One was white with a pink skirt and white blouse on, another was black with a pair of green pants, and the last one was a blue cat wearing on clothes but had a satchel on his back.

"Sorry Gajeel!" the blue cat said. "We just wanted to wake you up before Lord Jose comes."

"That old man huh?" Gajeel threw the covers off him and on the cats before standing up. His khaki coloured pants were on as he shoved his feet into his black steel-toed boots. He threw on his black waist coat and rotated his shoulders until they cracked. "Let's go ring the bells."

"Aye Sir!"

Gajeel slid ran down the stairs of his room and into the large corridor leading to the bells. He grabbed onto a couple of the ropes and started pulling them in a certain order he'd learn as a child. The graceful sounds of bells started to chime through the wooden dome where they were kept and echoed into the town of Magnolia, waking everyone up for the day. Gajeel continued to ring them for a couple of minutes until he felt was enough. He slowly let the rope slip from his hands and walked away from the bells, letting their sounds slowly die away.

Carle, the white she-cat, held up a damp cloth to Gajeel. The man grinned down to the cat and took it from her.

"Thanks Carle." He wiped his forehead as he looked for the other two cats. "Where's Lily and Happy?"

"Over here!" Happy yelled.

Gajeel and Carle walked outside. The bright morning light blinded the Dragon Slayer, but he got used to it. From the altitude of the high towers, the cats and man were able to see the entire town. From the coastal beach on the other side to the countryside across town. Gajeel leaned on the railing looking down to the people who had started their daily lives. Waking, opening their shops along the streets and doing business with other people. What was different about today though was the Fairy Tail Festival. Gypsies were pouring in the street corners, the townspeople were excited for the performances that were going to be put on later in the day. Gajeel smirked as he saw a gypsy cart of performers doing tricks and dancing on the cart.

"I think this is the year Gajeel," Lily said.

The man turned to the black cat. "What are you talking about Lily?"

"I think he means that Lord Jose will let you go with him to the FTF," Happy said.

"After all, it's been your dream as a child," Carle said.

Gajeel scoffed. "As if the old man would let me out. If I went outside, everyone would freak out and try to kill me."

"But that's what the old bat said. I doubt that they'll actually kill you. You're too powerful to be killed with soldiers' swords and arrows."

Gajeel sighed, bending his head down. "If you actually think that it won't work, you're all stupider than I thought."

"Who's stupider than you thought, My Boy?"

Gajeel turned around and saw Lord Jose Porla walking up the steps. His black jacket covered his white shirt and half of his black pants. He still had that slight sadistic smile on his face. His dark red hair was now in a ponytail and his green eyes were dark as ever.

"Nothing Old Man," Gajeel said, petting Happy's head before the blue cat hopped down from the railing and ran off somewhere. Gajeel turned back to the cathedral square.

"Oh?" Jose walked over to Gajeel and looked down to the ground. His face turned to disgust when his eyes laid on gypsies setting up for the festival. "The Fairy Tail Festival. How wonderful. I can't believe we've gone so far as to giving a group of gypsies a festival in our town."

"It couldn't be all _that _bad Jose-sama. I mean, the townspeople enjoy them coming every year," Gajeel said. "Plus, you must somehow enjoy it because you go _every _single year."

"I have to go. I'm a government official Gajeel-kun," Jose scoffed. "I told you what gypsies are like. Even your own gypsy mother abandoned you as a child Gajeel-kun. You can't trust them," Jose said, looking to the other man. "Not once, not _ever_."

Gajeel looked to Jose with his red eye before sighing. He looked out to the horizon. "Yes Sir."

"Good. Now, I've brought you some food for the next few days. There's someone coming back to Magnolia from a battle in foreign lands, so I must brief him on the current situation of the town. Remember Gajeel-kun, you are not to leave this cathedral under any circumstances, understood?"

Gajeel nodded, walking away from the judge. "Understood Jose-sama."

Jose nodded to the back of the Dragon Slayer's head. "I'll see you in a few days." Jose walked down the steps of the tower.

Gajeel looked to the stairs and growled. "He makes me mad."

"I think that's his special gift," Lily said, looking down to the square. "Go down there. Have fun for once."

"And if I get caught?"

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission," Carle said.

Gajeel smirked. "Gee-hee. You three are a bad influence on me."

"Oh! And bring me fish!"

Gajeel looked to Happy with a face of utter confusion. "Well, you two are. The idiot just dumbs me down."

"Who's the idiot?! I'll hit him with my fish for making Gajeel even more stupid!" Happy yelled, swinging a fish skeleton in his hand.

"Who are you calling stupid?!" Gajeel yelled. He sighed before deciding to clobber the cat and walked over to a chair that had a black cloak hanging on it. "Whatever. I'll bring you guys some fish or something…if I don't get caught."


End file.
